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The Global Good Awards: Championing Youth Activism
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UN Day 2020: A Canon and UN partnership
UN Day 2020: A Canon and UN partnership by Louise O’Driscoll
UN Day 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and its founding Charter. It’s a reminder that times of struggle can become an opportunity for positive change and transformation. We at Canon believe, that together is more than just a word. Our corporate philosophy of Kyosei – living and working together for the common good, shapes a belief in seeing all people living harmoniously and working together to contribute to a prosperous society.
Our Young People Programme workshops bring artists, young photographers and Charity Partners across the world together with Canon and has been inspiring children and young adults with the possibilities of creative futures since 2015, and we were lucky to have them run again for the first time in months. Our recent Ideas Foundation UK workshop was held at the Global Academy in London on October 15th, supported by Disrupt Space, that brings together artists, industry professionals – and young people – to make unique content for an online gallery of emerging black visual artists.
We asked Nicole Fernandes Da Silva, recent winner of the Canon Young Champion of the year award, to tell us more about her experience at the workshop.
Nicole Fernandes Da Silva
Our workshop through Nicole’s eyes
“After arriving at the Disrupt Space Global Academy, students were split into groups, where we were assigned an artist and a photographer to lead in the workshop. Each group had to create a fifteen-second introduction video, a 30-90 second video about the artist and deliver around six still shots.
My group was assigned the artist Damel Carayol and I was the group photographer. Damel spoke about how he uses oils and acrylic to explore human themes of beauty, religion and community.
For the first two hours or so, the students got to know myself and Damel, learning about our art and experiences. Throughout the day, I recorded the students working and took photographs of everyone. It was really cool to see how passionate the students were when completing the tasks.
Damel Carayol in the workshop
The thing that surprised me the most was how organised everyone was. As soon as they knew what they were doing, they just cracked on with it. It was inspiring to see everyone working hard. This was the first time I got to work alongside professional artists and photographers.
Damel Carayol by a painting of Stormzy
Damel created this oil painting of singer, Stormzy, in commemoration of the Grenfell Tower incident, which Damel holds close to his heart. I find this piece beautiful because it has such a deep meaning for not only the artist but for others as well.
As the students were getting on with their projects, Damel went around making sure to answer any questions and give as much help as he could. The students were very eager to learn more about him and were very dedicated to making sure the videos and pictures they created in the workshop complimented him well.
I found teaching in the group was a bit nerve-wracking at first as I’m still fairly new to photography and I’m still quite young, but it was an exciting experience that I have learnt a lot from. Having opportunities like this helps me to progress my skills as a photographer and gives me the chance to get to know others in the same field, so I would like to thank Canon for giving me this chance and I hope that we can work together again in the future.”
To stay up to date with news on Canon’s Young People programme, follow @SDGaction and @CanonEMEA
